Monday Night Football Theme Song Discontinued Amid Controversy

Hank Williams, Jr. compared President Obama to Hitler, and now his song will no longer be played during ESPN Monday Night Football.

ESPN’s Monday Night Football recently announced that Hank Williams, Jr.’s famous MNF theme song “All My Rowdy Friends,” which has been a part of MNF since 1989, will no longer be played during games.

The announcement came after Williams made a controversial comment on “Fox & Friends” that connected Adolf Hitler and President Obama. He claimed that a gathering between the President and House speaker John Boehner was like “Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”

When asked to clarify, Williams said that President Obama and Vice-President Biden were “the enemy.” Due to his comments, ESPN pulled Williams from the opening of the Oct. 3^rd Monday night game. After that cancellation, it is unclear who made the final decision to permanently sever ties between the song and MNF. ESPN stated that “We have decided to part ways with Hank Williams Jr.” while Hank Williams, Jr. told the Associated Press in a statement that “I have made MY decision…By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It’s been a great run.”

Williams has won a Grammy and various other awards under his genre of country music. Now if only he could get his capitalization issues in line, perhaps he could earn a gold star in English class.

[Photo from Wikimedia Commons]